The Last of Harry

Chloe and Sydney Bostian , the two sisters are engaged in a unique mission- precisely a 11 day mission to acquire something the world has gone berserk.Its a saga of of a teenager boy.The sisters have installed a tent outside the bookstore and visited by their parents often and their friends supply their food.If u have not guessed it by now then u are perhaps one of those unfortunate Muggles who are oblivious of an alternate world- a world infested by wizards, witches, animagus and a dark villain.Confused!! Read on

The Boy who lived

What can one say about a 18 year old boy who shall die? Well, this is not a corrupted version of Love Story by Eric Segal but a tale of Harry Potter the boy-wonder who has interwoven into our live and became a part of our living for over a decade.Originally started as a bed-time story, conceived at a cafe by J.k Rowling ,a widow then, Harry has grown of age over years so is his popularity by leaps and bounds.No other fictional character till date have received fame and affection of masses to this magnitude as Harry has enjoyed.No one has captured our imagination,our heart and soul the way this teenager boy has.
In a world divided over race , cast and language; where a deep chasm exists between the have and have-nots, the world that J K Rowling has spun for us resides in our fantasies.This is world where two kind of people exists Wizards and Witches- those who are in possession of Magical powers and the Muggles- their hapless counterparts sans any powers and knowledge of the existance of the former beings.Unlike LOTR where the wizards are shown to have flowing beard, towering figure and are invariably very old, wizard and witches in Harry's world love watching sports ( namely Quiddich ), they too fall in love, bunk classes,get those adolescent pangs and have fights over trifle issues- well in short like us only!!This is where J K Rowling scores over others.She has built an alternate realm which we can identify easily.Wizard here go to school for honing their magic skills, they too have to submit homework regularly and they too have biased cronies as teachers.The subject they study is strikingly similar to that we do in our Muggle classrooms. Transfiguration is synonymous with physics which is all about manipulating the nature of the matter,potion classes is similar to our chemistry and herbology is invariably same as our biology lessons.They too have the boring history lessons ( guess what they are taught by ghosts!!) and more often than not the pupil doze off during classes.
Basically what Rowling has successfully done is to empower us i.e she has led us to believe that this world really exists somewhere and we can simulate ourselves in the place of Harry or his friends like Ron and Hermione,Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledor and even the Lord Voldemort.It may be Harius Potter to a boy in Scotland or Hari da Putter in our very own Punjab.
Harry Potter is after all about victory of good over the evil.All her books carries the the same refrain that its us who chooses who we become.However how bad be the adversary we always have hope.Its us who shall make choices and choices make us who we are.
At the stroke of midnight when the clock will strike 12the half of the world shall remain awake for the last of the franchise of Harry Potter series.So many question remains to be answered.Will Harry Die? What is exactly deathly Hallows?Will Voldemort be defeated at last?One last shot .We wait with our bated breadth to see the end of the greatest epic of our time.

WAH TAJ! - Through The Looking Glass

“not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones.”
- English poet Edwin Arnold

So finally Taj made it!! On a fateful day of 7th july 2007 when India was in slumber, in a star studded event In Lisbon, Portugal Taj Mahal was declared as one of the Seven Wonders of World to the glee of 100 billion Indians.Approximately 10 crore votes alone came from India.I had written one post named Huzoor WAH TAJ! Boliye in our Wall Mag.
We had quite a bit of lively discussion as to whether Taj needs this wild publicity.I like to cite a quite interesting bit of comment from my fellow blogger and my mentor Shayon.

You know, I don't feel it's about recognition, it's more about the prestige of being officially recognized. Think of it on these lines. Everyone in your class knows that you're a whiz in maths. But nothing beats the exhilaration of being felicitated by your school's principal on annual day, for the same. Everyone knows the contribution of Raj Kapoor to Hindi Cinema, then why does he still receive life time achievement awards on every other felicitation ceremony?


Hmm..I thouht that was quite a cheesy thought!! In his words had been the Taj in the list of seven Wonders then it would have been universally recognized and people from all nook and corner of the globe namely "either a farmer in Brazil or a construction worker in Luxemburg or prolly some mathematician from St Petersburg." would have been aware of the Marvel of Marble.

Then in a quite bizarrely turn of events all our focus shifted to mobile operators and their SMS rates.So after a hearty discussion we came to naught, back to square one. Then today I chanced upon the post by Sakshi called And the Taj says "Thank you". It said something like this.......

"The Final list is out, and Taj has made it to the Seven Wonders of the world. I am sure if it were allowed a thank you speech, the monument of love would have said - That finally, people showed their love to me. Thank you India....!!!"

Well, that prompted me to scribble this post. I know it might be a overcooked topic right now..but I can't help putting my thoughts in place.



"The embodiment of all things pure, all things holy and all things unhappy."
-Rudyard Kipling

Well, now that the Taj has been placed in the list of seven wonders we being Indians have every reason to be happy. All this euphoria around Taj was created by countless ads and fervent campaigning media.Surely did it captured our imagination but for a very weak cause i.e for getting it included in the Seven Wonders List. Well, readers might be frowning at this but let me clarify that I am not against Taj being made one of the Seven Wonders because after all this is no mean feat!!But what pisses me off the way media projects it - all this brouhaha and hype.All of a sudden we see scores of music videos and ads bearing the "Vote for TAj" pleas.All we are concerned about is the recognition of Taj and we turn a blind eye to the maladies surrounding TAj.Yes! Taj is dying! Drastic climatic changes and increasing level of pollution in the atmosphere have slowly degrading this beauty and it wont be long we shall see a very dull looking Taj.How many times have we ever concerned ourselves with this sad-state-of affairs?? How many have we seen or heard "Save Taj" poll in this decade?Aren't we responsible for preserving our national monument ,our national pride?All we look for is glitz and glory.Being one of the wonders in the world is fine but that shouldn't turn out to be a lifetime achievement award for Taj.As a responsible citizen we should not only bask in the glory of out national treasure but also ensure we don't turn a blind eye to this ravishing beauty.Our future generation deserves beholding TAj with all its luster and grandeur.Well,I guess right now the Taj might be saying -" Thank for all the love and support u have given me but please have concern for my declining health."

You know Shah Jahan, life and youth, wealth and glory, they all drift away in the flow of time. You strove therefore, to perpetuate only the sorrow of your heart…Let the splendour of diamond, pearl and ruby vanish…Only let this one teardrop, this Taj Mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever."
– Rabindranath Tagore